Transfigurations

Welcome to Transfigurations! This blog is intended to serve the orthodox Anglican community and the wider Christian community. We pray that all that is posted here will be faithful to the Scriptures as the inspired word of God, speak the truth in love, edify, bless and transform this local body of Christ, and be an impetus for revival, repentance, prayer and intercession!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Trinity Sunday

God the Father is a deep root, the Son is the shoot that breaks forth into the world, and the Spirit is that which spreads beauty and fragrance. ...Tertullian image by Armando Maynez

BBC exposes the inefficacy of the ‘morning-after’ pill. Where’s the uproar?

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Funny, isn’t it? The BBC screens a documentary about ‘assisted suicide’ in which a man is shown drinking poison and dying on a comfy Dignitas sofa in snowy Switzerland, and most of the Church unites with the right-wing press in a furore of condemnation. The left-leaning media are largely content that another taboo has been broken, advocating that ‘assisted suicide’ is a bit like abortion and should be available to anyone over the age of consent.

Yet when the BBC screens a documentary about the inefficacy of the ‘morning-after’ pill, in which scientific evidence establishes that its widespread availability is actually exacerbating the problem of teenage pregnancy, there is silence from both the right and the left.

Anglican Use Society of Savannah Announces First Service

The Anglican Use Society of Savannah, Georgia, a group of current and former Anglicans/Episcopalians preparing to enter the ordinariate once it is established in the United States, will have their first service on Sunday, June 19th.
Savannah, GA
June 18, 2011

The first service of the newly-formed Anglican Use Society of Savannah, will be held on Sunday, June 19th at 4:00 in the chapel of Our Lady of Confidence Carmelite Monastery in Savannah.

The Anglican Use Society of Savannah's goal is to form an Anglican Use parish for the Savannah area which will become part of the ordinariate to be erected in the United States under Anglicanorum Coetibus, which was promulgated by Pope Benedict in November of 2009.

Anglicanorum Coetibus allows groups of Anglicans to enter the Catholic Church while retaining elements of their Anglican patrimony. the rest

Friday, June 17, 2011

Devotional: Prayer has divided seas...

Prayer has divided seas, rolled up flowing rivers, made flinty rocks gush into fountains, quenched flames of fire, muzzled lions, disarmed vipers and poisons, marshaled the stars against the wicked, stopped the course of the moon, arrested the rapid sun in its great race, burst open iron gates, conquered the strongest devils, commanded legions of angels down from heaven. Prayer has bridled and changed the raging passions of man, and routed and destroyed vast armies of proud, daring atheists. Prayer has brought one man from the bottom of the sea, and carried another in a chariot of fire to heaven; what has prayer not done! ...Anonymousimage

US Orders News Blackout Over Crippled Nebraska Nuclear Plant

Jun-17-2011

A shocking report prepared by Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency (FAAE) on information provided to them by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) states that the Obama regime has ordered a “total and complete” news blackout relating to any information regarding the near catastrophic meltdown of the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant [photo top left] located in Nebraska.

According to this report, the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant suffered a “catastrophic loss of cooling” to one of its idle spent fuel rod pools on 7 June after this plant was deluged with water caused by the historic flooding of the Missouri River which resulted in a fire causing the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) to issue a “no-fly ban” over the area.

Located about 20 minutes outside downtown Omaha, the largest city in Nebraska, the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant is owned by Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) who on their website denies their plant is at a “Level 4” emergency by stating: “This terminology is not accurate, and is not how emergencies at nuclear power plants are classified.”the restimage

Why We're Going Back to Single-Sex Dorms

Student housing has became a hotbed of reckless drinking and hooking up.
JUNE 13, 2011By JOHN GARVEY

Excerpt:
Here is one simple step colleges can take to reduce both binge drinking and hooking up: Go back to single-sex residences.

I know it's countercultural. More than 90% of college housing is now co-ed. But Christopher Kaczor at Loyola Marymount points to a surprising number of studies showing that students in co-ed dorms (41.5%) report weekly binge drinking more than twice as often as students in single-sex housing (17.6%). Similarly, students in co-ed housing are more likely (55.7%) than students in single-sex dorms (36.8%) to have had a sexual partner in the last year--and more than twice as likely to have had three or more.

The point about sex is no surprise. The point about drinking is. I would have thought that young women would have a civilizing influence on young men. Yet the causal arrow seems to run the other way. Young women are trying to keep up--and young men are encouraging them (maybe because it facilitates hooking up).

Next year all freshmen at The Catholic University of America will be assigned to single-sex residence halls. The year after, we will extend the change to the sophomore halls. It will take a few years to complete the transformation... the rest

Quake city exhausts its shaky residents

After the first big earthquake, Christchurch dusted off and carried on. Not this time.
June 18, 2011

The Anglican bishop, the Right Reverend Victoria Matthews, is seeing a ''deep weariness of soul'' among Christchurch residents.

A business leader is hearing accounts of exhaustion, trauma and stress. A clinical psychologist says some people are at breaking point.

The two big aftershocks that rattled Christchurch this week - magnitude 5.5 and 6 - have heaped another layer of anxiety on to those trying to survive in the earthquake-ravaged city. the rest

There were fears this week that the latest quakes would spark a renewed flight from the region. Even the Prime Minister, John Key, recognised the potential problem, calling on locals to stay if they could.

Disappearing data challenge for Presiding Bishop

by George Conger
June 17, 2011

A flap over the ethics of editing the on-line encyclopedia Wikipedia has erupted in the Episcopal Church, with conservative bloggers crying foul after staffers at the Episcopal Church’s national offices in New York deleted unflattering information from the biography of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

On March 17, blogger Mary Ailes, author of the popular “Baby Blue” website, reported that a “section of the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church’s bio on Wikipedia has gone missing.”

The expunged biographical details concerned the Presiding Bishop’s claim, published by the national church in summary biographies of candidates standing for election as presiding bishop in 2007, that she had served as “Dean of the Good Samaritan School of Theology in Corvallis, Oregon, from 1994–2000.” the rest

No worship allowed

Appellate court bars renting public school space to church for religious 'worship services'
Emily Belz
posted June 17, 2011

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in June that a public school could bar a church from renting its space after hours, while other groups could rent the space if they weren't using it for worship. The court said the school wasn't discriminating against "religious points of view" but simply banning a "type of activity—religious worship services."

"The Establishment Clause is being misunderstood to mean that you cannot accommodate religious private speech as opposed to other private speech," said Jordan Lorence of the Alliance Defense Fund, one of the lawyers for the Bronx, N.Y., church that sought to rent from a local middle school. "They have their dance recitals, Boy Scout meetings, union meetings, worship services. Nothing is transformed. The meeting doesn't work some architectural alchemy on the building." the rest

Most Americans Still Believe in Traditional Marriage, Poll Reveals

Fri, Jun. 17 2011
By Stephanie Samuel
Christian Post Reporter

A national marriage survey commissioned by a conservative legal group found that 62 percent of Americans believe that marriage should be defined as a union between a man and a woman. The numbers, the survey director said, mirrors the millions of Americans in 31 states who voted in favor of constitutional marriage amendments.

Despite several other polls which show the national opinion is trending toward favoring legalizing gay marriage, the poll sponsored by the Alliance Defense Fund shows the exact opposite – Americans still strongly support traditional marriage. the rest

Komen Sends Women to Planned Parenthood for Nonexistent Mammograms

by Steven Ertelt Washington, DC LifeNews.com
6/16/11

Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the breast cancer awareness group, is coming under criticism again — this time for referring women to the Planned Parenthood abortion business for mammograms Planned Parenthood doesn’t provide.

In March, officials with Live Action conducted an undercover investigation by calling Planned Parenthood centers nationwide. They learned that Planned Parenthood doesn’t have machines to perform mammograms and, despite advertising to women that they can contact the abortion business for them, it refers all women seeking mammograms to other health care providers.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Property Deal Clears Way to Ordinariate

June 15, 2011
St. Luke’s Church will make a pilgrimage from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism without leaving its historic location at 53rd Street and Annapolis Road in Bladensburg, Md.

The Rev. Mark Lewis, rector of St. Luke’s since 2006, praises the Rt. Rev. John B. Chane, Bishop of Washington, for the arrangement, in which St. Luke’s will lease the facilities from the Diocese of Washington and has an option to buy the property.

“We have a relationship that is mutually respectful,” Lewis said in an interview with The Living Church. He appreciates where I am theologically, and I know he appreciates the parish.” the rest

Church fears 'dictatorship' in debt-burdened Greece

The Greek Orthodox Church in Great Britain has spoken of its concerns for Greece as the country struggles to free itself from a crippling debt crisis.

Capital city Athens was rocked by violent protests on Wednesday as Greek riot police took on hundreds of protesters angry over the government’s austerity measures.

After power-sharing talks collapsed yesterday, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou announced he would form a new government and seek a parliamentary vote of confidence in a renewed effort to push through the unpopular austerity package. the restGreek PM Reshuffle Plan in Doubt as Deputies Quit

Report on U.S. ordinariate for ex-Anglicans

Jun. 16, 2011 By Nancy Frazier O'Brien
Catholic News Service

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- As many as 100 U.S. Anglican priests and 2,000 laypeople could be the first members of a U.S. personal ordinariate for former Anglicans who want to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church, Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington reported to his fellow bishops June 15.

Cardinal Wuerl was appointed by the Vatican last September to guide the incorporation of Anglican groups into the Catholic Church in the United States under "Anglicanorum coetibus," an apostolic constitution issued by Pope Benedict XVI in November 2009.

At a news conference following his report, Cardinal Wuerl said he "wouldn't be surprised" if the Vatican were to establish the U.S. ordinariate by the end of the year. "I think it will be sooner rather than later," he said. the rest

HH: Let me ask you, Bernie Marcus, people will be very interested in this, do you think we can turn this around? Can this economy go back to the era of growth that Home Depot experienced in the 80s and 90s? Is that possible again?

BM: Listen, the American people are very resilient, unlike other people in the world. We just have to get out of their way. We just have to allow them to grow. And if we don’t do that, and we can’t keep putting in impediments. Look, I know so many small business people today. Nobody wants to expand. They’re not willing to expand today. There’s such uncertainty out there. You have a group of people in Washington today, where they’re the bad guys. I mean, if a man has a successful small business, and he’s making $200,000 dollars a year, he’s the enemy of the world.

HH: Yeah. Do you think the President understands this at all, Bernie Marcus?
BM: I…look, look. I’m sure this guy is, I’m sure his head is in the right place. He just doesn’t understand it. He never worked for a day in his life. How would he know it?

HH: Yeah.

BM: He never had to make a payroll, and he has surrounded himself…there’s a statistic that’s very important. They had a statistic on how many businesspeople worked in every administration. The typical one, the smallest one was something like 35% were in the business world. This administration, it’s 8%. He’s surrounded by college professors, he’s surrounded by economic professionals, but nobody has ever created a job in this administration.

Hands-On With Baseball’s Biggest Scientific Mysteries

By Erik Malinowski
June 15, 2011

Sure, baseball's origins date back to the early 19th century, but it's still the ultimate geek sport. Split-second decisions, weird physics and ever-evolving equipment permeate all facets of the game. There's a seemingly endless laundry list of questions that surround the sport: Does a curveball really curve? Why don't I hear the crack of the bat right when it happens? Do bats really have a "sweet spot"?

Of course, science can answer all of these questions and more, and San Francisco's Exploratorium museum has dedicated prime space on its main show floor for its Science of Baseball exhibit, which runs through Sept. 5 and features a dozen interactive installations that'll bring out the baseball geek in all fans.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

NY Assembly Approves Same-Sex Marriage

June 15, 2011
(CNN) -- New York's state Assembly Wednesday night approved a same-sex marriage bill, sending it to the Senate, where it faces a closer vote.

The Marriage Equality Act passed the Assembly 80-63.

It would grant same-sex couples equal rights to marry "as well as hundreds of rights, benefits and protections that are currently limited to married couples of the opposite sex," according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office. the rest

A.S. Haley: What Kind of "Icon" Heads the Episcopal Church (USA)?

Monday, June 13, 2011

Wallace of the Day1 radio program interviewed the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori on his show on February 3, 2009 -- some two years after she had assumed her office as Presiding Bishop of ECUSA. Toward the end of the first segment, this exchange took place (starting at 05:49 in the video):

WALLACE: And now you are the top woman religious leader in the world . . . what does that mean to you?

JEFFERTS SCHORI: Well, I'm certainly aware that it means I'm an icon, in some ways, for people . . . I'm simply doing the jobI think I was called to do. I don't -- I don't have another experience with which to compare it, but I do know it says something to others about the dropping of some barriers.

Missouri court rules in favor of Colonial Church in property dispute

One of Kansas City’s largest Presbyterian churches joined the growing ranks of departing churches that are winning property cases against the Presbyterian Church (USA).

On July 10, Judge Justine E. Del Muro ruled in favor of Colonial Presbyterian Church of Kansas City, Mo. in a decision that will allow the 1,700-member congregation to keep its property following its 2010 departure from Heartland Presbytery.

Filed in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Mo., the summary judgment recognized Colonial as the legal owner of all church property, which is valued at just over $15 million and includes two campuses, despite Heartland’s claim that a trust existed between the church and the PCUSA.

Located near Kansas City, Colonial left the PCUSA following an overwhelming 927-27 vote in August 2010. Citing theological differences with the denomination, the congregation also approved a move to join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC). the rest

Catholic group banned from town parade over baby picture on pro-life banner

by Rebecca Millette
Tue Jun 14, 2011

(LifeSiteNews.com) – A Catholic group in Palatine, Illinois has been banned from participating in the upcoming Palatine Jaycees Hometown Fest parade on July 2 because their banner displays a picture of an unborn child.

“They decided that an unborn baby is too offensive,” said Martin Kelley, co-founder of Palatine Area Catholics Respect Life. “It’s an ultrasound photo. It’s not a picture of an aborted baby.”

The banner displays a picture of the unborn baby and an elderly woman with the words “Palatine Area Catholics Respect Life ... from Conception ‘til Natural Death.”

The group marched with the banner last year, but this year organizers informed them they would not be allowed unless they removed or changed the picture of the unborn baby. the rest

Christian Communities near Town in Nigeria Disappearing

(CDN) — In a village outside this Bauchi state town in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria, what was once a Christian community has vanished.

Last March the Christian peasant farmers of Mdandi village, eight kilometers (five miles) northwest of the Government Girls Secondary School in Tafawa Balewa town, were busy harvesting crops and preparing for a new farming season. On March 27 scores of armed, hard-line Islamists – avoiding the surrounding Muslim villages – descended on Mdandi, destroyed the Christians’ homes and drove them out, former residents said. the rest

Teachers union funds controversial 'gender identity' curriculum

Becky Yeh
OneNewsNow
6/15/2011

A pro-family leader in California says it's alarming that the teachers union in his state is paying for a sexual indoctrination course for elementary students.

All students at Redwood Heights Elementary School in Oakland were instructed by Gender Spectrum, a Bay Area-based organization that hosts training events and consultations aimed at questioning the role of gender in society. Students were encouraged to question whether there were such things as "boy colors" or "toys just for girls." A Gender Spectrum instructor read to the students a book titled My Princess Boy -- a story about a boy who liked to wear dresses.

Jim Schubert of The Core Report explains that the organization encourages radical methods of experimentation, including placing gender-neutral restrooms in schools.the rest

Pennsylvania Senate Cracks Down on Abortion Centers After Gosnell

by Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com
6/14/11
The Pennsylvania Senate today passed a bill that would crack down on abortion centers in the wake of the scandal involving Kermit Gosnell, the abortion practitioner who ran a horrific abortion center.

Gosnell’s center was found to be filthy and in violation of numerous state health and safety laws and he put women’s health at risk with botched abortions that ultimately killed at least one woman and injured others. Gosnell also used a live birth abortion technique that essentially had him birthing unborn children for the sole purpose of killing them in infanticides using medical scissors to “snip” their spinal cords.

The aftermath of numerous investigations found state officials ignored complaints about the abortion center and that the state government had not inspected it or other abortion businesses. Today, the Pennsylvania Senate, in a move to protect women’s health, passed legislation that would raise safety standards at abortion facilities in the Commonwealth. the rest

Middle East Christians facing 'extremist atrocities'

The Archbishop of Canterbury has warned that there are extreme forces at work that have turned the Arab Spring into a "very anxious time" for Christians. 14 June 2011
Dr Rowan Williams told the BBC that the vacuum left by the end of autocratic regimes was being filled by extremists.

He claimed there had been more killings of Christians and burnings of churches in Egypt than people were aware of.

Life was unsustainable for Christians in northern Iraq, and tensions in Syria were nearing breaking point, he added. the rest

In pictures: Chile volcanoes spew ash

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

New evangelisation begins with heart says Pope

June 14, 2011

“Faith is not conserved by its own merits in the world, it is not automatically transmitted to the human heart, but must always be announced. To be effective the proclamation of faith must begin with a heart that believes, hopes, loves, a heart that loves Christ and believes in the power of the Holy Spirit!”

This was Pope Benedict XVI’s message to the bishops, clergy religious and laity of his diocese Monday evening, gathered together in the basilica of St John Lateran to open the annual convention of the Diocese of Rome.

The Holy Father called priests, parents and catechists to launch a new evangelisation, to transmit a living faith to the future generation of Romans and create a community of believers in the eternal city where the Gospel is not only preached but put into practice.

Drawing from the Acts of the Apostle, the Pope began by noting that Peter’s proclamation of the Good News was not confined to a simple listing of facts, but that the people of Jerusalem on hearing his words were – through the grace of God – ‘cut to the heart’ and understood that Christ’s resurrection was and is capable of illuminating human existence. From this event “a new understanding of mankind’s dignity and his eternal destiny, of the relationship between man and woman, of the ultimate meaning of suffering of commitment to building society, was born”. The response of faith is born, he said , when mankind discovers, through the grace of God, that believing means finding true life, “full life”. the rest

Monday, June 13, 2011

Book: Protocols for Dealing with Terrorism, Disasters, Crime and Other Common Threats.

“How to Handle a Crisis” was created for businesses, families and individuals that lack emergency training, yet wish to be prepared to react to an event when help may not be immediately available, and want a single hands-on resource guide for multiple threats.

Loaded with concise protocols and charts for dealing with natural and manmade disasters, terrorism, nuclear, biological, chemical and medical emergencies, bomb threats, active shooters, crime and other crises, there are also chapters on travel, hotel and aircraft safety, mitigating ID theft, sheltering in place, emergency food and water as well as how to prepare for a disaster.

An extensive up-to-date first aid chapter has protocols for all common medical emergencies such as fractures, heart attacks, bites, amputations and poisonings, but also covers emergencies not normally found in civilian books such as blast injuries, childbirth, influenza and much more.

When an emergency strikes, critical, timely, easy-to-follow life saving information is essential, without wasting precious time looking through assorted sources.

Written by former police chief Dennis Evers, author of a best selling book on protocols for emergency personnel that is used by the secret service, military, Fortune 100’s and hundreds of thousand of police, fire and medical personnel worldwide, “How to Handle a Crisis” is a must have in these dangerous times.

Priced at just $12.95, the166 page 5.5 X 8.5” book easily fits in attaches, drawers and glove boxes and is available at www.howtohandleacrisis.com

Among some 13,000 messages was an unexpected, revealing and touching email from Palin to friends and family.

It was initially written, obviously not for publication, in April of 2008 just a few days before....

...the arrival of her fifth child, Trig, who was born with Down syndrome. In her email Palin imagines a letter from God to the family about to launch on its challenging child-rearing experience together.

Boston: Canceled Mass outrages gays

Diocese bans parish’s service
June 11, 2011
By David Abel

The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, in response to criticism it was sanctioning a celebration of Gay Pride month, announced yesterday that it had ordered a South End church to cancel a Mass scheduled for next weekend that was themed, “All are Welcome.’’

The decision outraged members of the lesbian and gay community.

“I think that’s horrible, just horrible, that they would cancel,’’ said Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, an organization that advocates for participation of gays in the Catholic Church. “What an abuse of authority. I wish I could be surprised, but I’m definitely appalled.’’ the rest

Mass for liberal believers angers archbishop
Saying there were significant abuses at a mass held Sunday by liberal Catholics, Archbishop of Detroit Allen Vigneron will commission a "careful and thorough review" of the services led by a local Catholic priest, a church spokesman said...

Belgian Doctors Boast of Harvesting Organs After Euthanasia

Friday, June 10, 2011Wesley J. Smith
I can think of few things that would undermine universal human equality than for society to think that killing despairing people with serious illnesses or disabilities could be a splendid means of incresasing the supply of transplant organs. I warned about this likelihood in my very first foray into anti euthanasia activists in Newsweek, June 28, 1993. From, “The Whispers of Strangers:”

Of greater concern to me is the moral trickledown effect that could result should society ever come to agree with Frances. Life is action and reaction, the proverbial pebble thrown into the pond. We don’t get to the Brave New World in one giant leap. Rather, the descent to depravity is reached by small steps. First, suicide is promoted as a virtue. Vulnerable people like Frances become early casualties. Then follows mercy killing of the terminally ill. From there, it’s a hop, skip and a jump to killing people who don’t have a good “quality” of life, perhaps with the prospect of organ harvesting thrown in as a plum to society.

Excerpt:
That something became Holy Trinity Anglican Church, a local congregation that is organizing for a Sept. 11 launch.

McGee is a priest serving the Anglican Church in North America, a reform movement that emerged nearly 10 years ago, when theologically conservative parishes left the Anglican Communion after the denomination struggled with the ordination of women and contentious debates about the place of gays and lesbians within the church. The ordination of the Rev. Gene Robinson to bishop of New Hampshire was the theological straw that broke the camel’s back for conservative Episcopalians. Robinson is openly gay and for many conservative parishes, his ordination was the tipping point away from the Anglican Communion. It wasn’t until 2009, though, that the Anglican Church in North America was established formally to serve congregations in America and Canada.

The new denomination hasn’t settled the issues that caused it to leave the Episcopal Church. On the denominational website, church officials have posted the body’s resolution on women and priesthood, a document that explains the steps leaders will take in studying the issue of women’s ordination.

For the vicar and his parishioners, the new Denton congregation is a touchstone for seekers, Anglicans and disaffected Christians who crave a religious community with a deep tradition and a call to live what McGee calls “a holy life.” the rest

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Devotional: A man set on fire is an apostle of his age...

A man set on fire is an apostle of his age. And the only one who can kindle the spark of light and fire on the hearth where it has died down is He who has revealed Himself as the God of fire, our Lord Jesus Christ. 'Our God is a consuming fire'...Tell me, is your ministry a burning and shining light, or a smoking wick, slowly dying out to ashes?...It is a strange custom that we should supply a minister with a glass of water; if only we could supply him with a bonfire in the pulpit, a spiritual bonfire. We need the dynamic of a flaming ministry that will set the Church on fire. ...Samuel M. Zwemer image